1. Field of the Invention
This invention is generally directed to closet organizers and particularly to garment and/or shoe bags which are telescopically supported in suspended relationship to the clothes rod in a closet by way of a hanger member having two rows of spaced hooks thereon for simultaneously supporting a pair of such garment and/or shoe bags in back-to-back relationship and which hanger is moveable carried by the telescoping elements of an extendible support member which is secured to the clothes rod.
2. History of the Prior Art
There have been numerous developments made in the field of storage hangers and racks for closets and other storage areas. One problem associated with creating compact storage space is the identification of articles which are stored. The more articles which are stored in a given location, the greater the difficulty in locating a particular item.
In an effort to make stored items more readily accessible, use has been made of various storage racks which have telescoping components. The telescoping features of these racks makes it easier to locate stored items as such items may be moved relative to other stored articles in a particular location.
In clothes closets, one means by which space has been saved is through the use of clothing bags and shoe bags capable of storing a plurality of clothing items in separate pockets on the bags. Most of these clothing and/or shoe bags are directly supported either on a wall or door or are suspended on conventional clothes hangers from the clothes rod in a closet. When it is desired to obtain an article from a conventional support bag which is suspended from a clothes rod, it is either necessary to lift the entire bag from suspended engagement with the rod or to urge the bag from adjacent articles of clothing. The more crowded the closet, that is, the more items that are suspended from the support rod, the more difficult the task of removing or storing articles in the clothing bags.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,807 to Phillps, a display device is disclosed wherein articles of clothing or shoes are carried on a plurality of panel members which are slideably extendable from a box-like support or cabinet member. Such bulky and complex storage facilities are not economically suitable for ordinary home closet use and would consume more space than they would save. A similar display unit is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,376 to Lahr.
In applicant's co-pending design applications, Ser. Nos. 453,052 and 453,053, filed Dec. 27, 1982, extendable racks similar to that of the present invention are shown having hanger members for supporting a plurality of belts, ties or similar articles. The racks are telescopically movable so as to orient the ties and belts outwardly away from the clothes rod so as to be readily accessbile to an individual. Other telescoping racks for such personal articles as belts, ties and the like are disclosed in McEvers U.S. Pat. Nos. D 273,645, 3,945,182 and 3,897,122; Manning et al., 3,389,807; Petrich 3,124,253; Dodich 3,335,872; Kovacs 2,917,185; Abil 2,985,311; Corbin 1,415,316 and Hibbs 2,569,761. These racks, however, have limited use for storing various types of garments and other wearing apparel. In addition, these patents do not appreciate the need to provide multiple vertically oriented storage means in a single telescoping rack.